Bathurst 12H: Event hour 7 report

THE Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour race resumed at 1.42 pm today after one of the most extraordinary incidents in the history of the famous Mount Panorama circuit, the collapse of a large tree across the track.
The tree fell from left to right just...

THE Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour race resumed at 1.42 pm today after one of the most extraordinary incidents in the history of the famous Mount Panorama circuit, the collapse of a large tree across the track.

The tree fell from left to right just past the exit of Forrests Elbow corner at the top of Conrod straight, just before 12.50 pm in the seventh hour of the race.

None of the almost 40 cars running at the time was hit and the field was stopped behind the safety car on the top of the mountain while emergency crews cut up the tree with chainsaws and removed it.

At the time, the cars had been running behind the safety car for more than an hour while race officials waited for damp and foggy conditions to clear.

The race resumed with David Wall leading in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 from Inky Tulloch (Mitsubishi), John Bowe (BMW) and Peter Hill (Mitsubishi) all on the same lap and Glenn Seton one lap down due to a pit stop. Seton quickly remedied his position after the green flag and took fifth spot.

A total of 42 cars (correct) started at 6.30 am and face a journey of up to around 1500 kilometres, depending on the pace dictated by weather. The Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour, in its fourth year as the ultimate test of showroom-standard production cars, is Australias longest motor race.